We can’t give away too much about the content of the city's bid – it is a competition after all! But the basics are that Norwich has been shortlisted to submit a full bid by 21 May 2010 alongside Sheffield, Birmingham and Derry.

What we can say however, is that Norwich has had good feedback so far and is in with a very good chance of winning. The bid needs quite a lot of technical information to prove that we can handle a year-long international arts festival, but also evidence that if we win, it will make enough of a difference - in other words how much do we need it compared to other cities. And how much support we have from people that live and work here.

 

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Vision

'The true capital of the world is the human ability for creativity, freedom and self-determination.'
Joseph Beuys.

As UK City of Culture 2013, Norwich will explore, interrogate and celebrate the human capacity to engage with, describe and change our world for the better. We will make Norwich a crucible for experiment, play and debate about how to live creatively and sustainably in the 21^st century.

If the major conflicts of the last millennium were between nations over territory and religion, the major potential conflict of this millennium is between mankind and the natural world.

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Aims
For the city, we aim

• To engage people in an inspirational year long programme of activity that will excite, involve and offer access to cultural excellence for all

• To use culture and creativity to improve educational attainment and increase the skills of local people

• To make Norwich a national leader in the UK Knowledge Economy and make us a recognized national and international centre of excellence in the Creative Industries

• To cultivate the existing excellent cultural offer of the city and nurture the local cultural ecology and cultural production which needs wider exposure and an improved national and international profile.

• To improve the perception of Norwich by building on its existing identity as a cultural city - locally, nationally and internationally and promoting it widely,  and involving all citizens by building civic pride

Nationally, we aim to

• Build on the work of Liverpool European Capital of Culture and further enhance the UK as a cultural destination for those travelling from outside the country

• Provide a model for the future for medium sized UK cities who want to drive social and economic change through culture and creativity

Internationally, we intend to

• Promote Norwich and Norfolk as places of creativity, sustainable living and healthy values with a European face and international aspirations